v2 MINERALS OF TASMANIA. 
The Ballarat School of Mines collection contains a specimen of 
this mineral marked “ Mt. Zeehan, 16/992,” but I think an error 
has been made as to locality, for, so far as I am aware, it is 
restricted to the Heazlewood locality as given. 
244, ZIRCON (Silicate of Zirconia). 
This mineral is isomorphous with Cassiterite. It forms when 
cut and polished a beautiful gem-stone, for which purpose the 
Tasmanian specimens are peculiarly adapted on account of their 
hich lustre, in which respect they perhaps excel those from all other 
localities, although they are not, as a rule, so highly coloured as 
those obtained in Northern New South Wales and Southern 
Queensland. 
As occurring here they are usually more or less transparent: in 
colour they vary through many shades of brown to red, and 
although occasionally fine clear stones of good colour are obtained, 
they are usually much clouded with darker tints. The Zircon 
presents three distinct varieties of colour, viz., the Jargoon, 
yellow-brown; the Hyacinth, bright red; and that termed 
Zirconite, which is almost opaque and reddish-brown in colour: 
all three are fairly abundant here. In this island it has not 
apparently been obtained in situ, but doubtless originates from the 
detritus of the Granite rock. It is abundant in the stanniferous 
drifts of the North-east coast, where it occurs with Topaz, Pleonaste, 
and Quartz. Well developed crystals are of extreme rarity, as it 
is generally much waterworn. The specimens from near Table 
Cape are, as a rule, darker and brighter in colour than those 
occurring on the Tin-fields, but they are commonly more fractured, 
although fairly good crystals are not nearly so rare. 
It has been found clear and colourless at the Blythe River; in 
beautiful glassy and lustrous crystals, ranging from one-eighth of 
an inch in length to extremely minute, Meredith Range and the 
North Pieman; in many colours—yellow, green, and red to 
colourless—Boat Harbour, near Table Cape ; in many variations 
of colour, including bright clear red, Flinders and Long Islands, 
Bass Straits; in large numbers, often of considerable size, in drift, 
Moorina, Weld River, Thomas’s Plains, and other places on the 
North-eastern tin-field. 
